How to Avoid Computer Eye Strain at Work?

Working at a 9-5 job is not an easy task as it seems to be, along with it comes little inconveniences that cannot be avoided but should be taken care of. While you are sitting all day long working on your desktops, the most important part of your body that keeps struggling with you are your eyes. Just as you physically get tired all day long working at your workplace, so do your eyes. They are working for you even more than yourselves!

These muscles require rest so that you can work easier, faster and be more productive.Lack of eye care, inappropriate lighting at workplaces and improper work set up are the basic reasons of computer eye strain.

Eye strain typically causes conditions which include tension around the eyes, dryness and redness, headache, blurred vision and sensitivity to light, so never forget to make your workplace work for your health. You can follow these right measures that can help reduce your computer eye strain:

10 Tips for Eliminating Computer Eye Strain:

1. Taking a Break Every 15-20 Minutes to Relax Your Eye Muscles:

Just as it is recommended not to sit for long at your desk and that you should stand or walk after every half hour or so, it is even recommended that while you are at work, give rest to your eyes and not let the little bunch of nerves be in stress.

Practice this exercise for a few minutes to lower eye strain:

2. Distance exercises:

Always remember the 20-20 rule! i.e. taking a break after 20 minutes for 20 seconds. To reduce eye fatigue, give your eyes rest and the strain can be reduced by staring at an object that is a little far away from where you are sitting.Let them recover!

3. Palm exercise:

A very simple exercise that you can practice while sitting at your place is palm exercise for eye strain, which simply requires keeping the palm on your eyes. It does not only reduce strain but in fact helps to make your eye sight better. Here’s how you can practice doing palming exercises.

4. Nourishing Your Eyes with Appropriate Nutrients:

Not only is the work quality important when you are at work, but what you eat matters too. Working hard requires an intake of good diet. Try including foods in your diet that will help nourish your eyes and will help to keep away from eye strain.

Foods that are rich in omega3 fatty acids, vitamins such as A, C and E will keep your eyes protected from such issues and in turn making your work productivity better and faster.

It’s time for me to take a twenty second break now….

5. Keep Blinking:

You might not be aware of how many times you are blinking while you work and no one even cares. You might be so involved working and staring at your screen to concentrate that you may almost forget to blink as people usually blink less while they are using a computer. Blinking is as important as the task that you are given to submit today, as Kondrot says “Make a conscious effort to blink every 10-15 seconds to prevent desert eye”. Conscious blinking will keep your eyes from dryness, irritation and provide moisture.

6. The Distance from Your Eyes and Monitor Must Be Far Enough:

Getting too involved and concentrating while you work can make you stare at your screen continuously,keeping a very less distance between your eyes and the screen. Keep in mind that the two should be at a distance of arm’s length. It is also of importance to protect your eyes from double or blurred vision.

7. Keeping Your Desktop Monitor at a Correct Position:

Keeping your monitor straight in front while you stare at your screen leads to zero blinking which further strains your eyes. It shouldn’t be at a position where it requires you to turn or twist your body and neck.

A room too dark or too bright can create a glare on your computer screens that too is dangerous for your eyes. Of course dangerous here means in terms of avoiding strain, irritation and dryness.

8. On Screen Characters Should Be Big Enough:

When you are working on your desktop and you are the one whose responsibilities include intense reading and writing, be it on the screen or manually on papers,always make sure that you increase the character size for convenient reading. Text small in size will require high concentration to read leading to eye strain. It is recommended that the letters be of atleast 3 mm for clear vision.

9. Proper Positioning and Lighting:

Proper positioning with respect to lighting is also an important aspect as improper lighting could be a reason for your eye strain that you might be facing. This might not be considered important but it is! Make sure the lights are adjustable in your work environment. Too little, too much and lights from inappropriate angles may cause dryness causing fatigue and irritation.

If you are reading this article right now at your workplace, give a look around you and check for the following:

Are your office windows in front of you or at the back?

Are you working under overhead fluorescent lights?

Is your monitor glaring at you? Especially during mornings and evenings?

Turn off your monitor – now check if somebody around you is wearing a white shirt and you can clearly see that on your closed desktop screen

Is the ambient light at your workplace more or as equal to the brightness of your desktop screen?

If the answers to these questions are all YES, it is certainly not working properly!

Try if you can sit where the natural light comes from the sides or else simply drape the windows. Turn off some fluorescent lights or keep the lights a little dim, i.e. it should be half the brightness of your desktop screen. If your desktop is not supported by an anti-glare screen, make sure you get it right now!

10. Screen Adjustments:

The most important thing apart from all these is to keep in mind that the brightness of your desktop screen is adjusted accordingly, not only this but the text size, color contrast and your temperature too!

It is also important to note that you get your eyesight checked regularly so that you know just in case that you need to wear spectacles. REMEMBER you are not a machine just like the device you are working on, so work with balance and give your eyes proper rest.